681 



IRELAND, SAMUEL WILLIAM HENRY. 



IRVING, REV. EDWARD. 



862 



ments to advantage, he wrote many tours, with engraved views (chiefly 

 in aquatint) of spots he had visited. The 6rst was a ' Picturesque 

 Tour through Holland, Brabant, and a part of France,' which was 

 published in 1789. To this succeeded, among others, ' Picturesque 

 Views on the Thames,' 1792; 'Graphic Illustrations of Hogarth," 

 1794; 'Picturesque Views on the Upper or Warwickshire Avon,' 

 1795: in collecting the materials for this work he was accompanied 

 by his son, who says the visit gave rise to his imposition respecting his 

 Shakspere papers. The father published these forgeries, with a firm 

 reliance on their authenticity, in 1796; and on the avowal of the 

 forgery by bis son, he quarrelled with him, and was only reconciled 

 on his approaching death, which, it is said, this affair hastened. His 

 last work was ' Picturesque Views, and an Historical Account of the 

 Inns of Court in London and Westminster,' published in 1800, and in 

 July of this year he died. None of his works have any great value ; 

 he was apparently a credulous simple-minded man, but they contain 

 interesting memorials of places now considerably altered, though 

 probably not scrupulously correct even at the time. 



IRELAND, SAMUEL WILLIAM HENRY (though he dropped 

 the Samuel to all his productions), was the son of the preceding, and 

 was born in Norfolk-street, Strand, in 1777. He would be scarcely worth 

 a notice, except in connection with the Shakspere forgeries, as to which 

 the credulity of many eminent men is far more remarkable than the 

 skill of their concoction. Ireland received an education at several 

 private schools and in France. When about sixteen he was 

 articled to a conveyancer in New Inn. In 1795, as we have already 

 stated, he accompanied his father on a visit to Stratford and the 

 Avon; and he says his father's enthusiasm for Shakspere, and his 

 ardent desire to possess any sort of relics, first induced him to forge 

 a deed, or lease, containing a pretended autograph of Shakspere, 

 which he presented to his father as having found among some old 

 law papers. The father was delighted, and suggested that something 

 more might be found in the same quarter. Thus invited, young Ire- 

 land continued his work till he had produced a quantity sufficient to 

 form the publication already spoken of. It is not necessary to give a 

 list of this worthless rubbish, but it was announced, that among the 

 Shakspere papers was a new play, entitled ' Vortigern,' also by Shak- 

 spere, which would not be published till after it had been performed. 

 Sheridan purchased it for Drury-Lane Theatre, though he does not 

 seem to have had a high notion of its merits. It was produced, 

 with John Kemble as Vortigern. The house was crowded, and had 

 most likely come prepared to applaud. But the inanity of the play 

 was too much for them ; they listened in vain for sonic Shakspereau 

 touch, and when Kemble, in his part, uttered the line 



" And now this solemn mockery is o'er," 



the storm burst ; the disapprobation was decided and loud, and when the 

 curtain dropped, ' Vortigern ' disappeared from the stage for ever. In the 

 meantime the attacks of Malone and others, denying the authenticity of 

 the papers, had rendered the elder Ireland uneasy. He required his 

 son to discover the source from which he bad procured the pretended 

 Shaksperean manuscripts, and at length he was forced to acknowledge 

 the deception he had practised. He left his father's house, and aban- 

 doned his profession. He wrote a number of other works, which 

 were published at various times. At the end of 1 796 he had published 

 his first announcement that he was himself the author of all the 

 papers published as Sliakspere's, to vindicate, as he says, his father 

 from the charge of having been an accomplice. This was expanded 

 into his 'Confessions,' published in 1805 a work alike remarkable 

 for its vanity and it* emptiness. He also wrote the romances of 

 'The Abbess' and 'Gandez the Monk,' each in four volumes, published 

 in 17i)9 and 1804 ; ' The Woman of Feeling,' a novel, in four volumes; 

 'Neglected Genius,' a poem, in 1812, with many others; none of which 

 were of more value than his Shakspere papers, and drew infinitely less 

 attention. Subsequently he wrote various things for the booksellers, 

 of which the most important perhaps was the descriptive part of an 

 illustrated ' History of Kent,' in 4 vols. He died on April 17, 1835. 



IREN^EUS, SAINT, Bishop of Lyon in Gaul, was a pupil of Poly- 

 carp, in Asia Minor (Iren., 'Adv. Her.' iii. 3, 4 ; Eusebius, 'Hist. 

 EccL' v. 20), and a presbyter of Pothinus, bishop of Lyon. He 

 carried a letter from the church of Lyon to Elcutherus, bishop of 

 Rome, respecting some disputes which existed between them, in 

 which he is honourably mentioned. On the martyrdom of Pothinus, 

 at the age of ninety, in 177, Irenseus was elected bishop of Lyon. 

 Ho discharged the duties of his office with exemplary diligence and 

 faithfulness, and is said to have been the means of converting many 

 pagans to the Christian religion. The place of his birth is not 

 known ; but it is probable from his name that he was a Greek, and 

 from his early acquaintance with Polycarp that he was a native of 

 Asia Minor. Critics differ considerably respecting the date of his 

 birth : Dodwell places it about A,D. 97, Grabe about 108, Du Pin 

 about 140, and Tillemont about 120 : it was probably between the 

 two latter dates. It is commonly supposed that ho suffered martjr- 

 dom in the begiuuing of the 3rd century ; but the fact of his 

 martyrdom has been doubted by many critics, from the silence of 

 Tertullian, Euaebius, and most of the early fathers. 



With respect to the works of Irenxus, we learn from Eusebius 

 (< Hist. Eccl.' v. 20), " that he wrote several letters against those who 



EIOG. DIV. VOL. nt. 



at Rome corrupted the true doctrine of the church ; one to Blastus, 

 concerning schism ; another to Florinus, concerning the monarchy, or 

 that God is not the author of evil; and concerning the number 

 eight." Eusebius also mentions (v. 26) "a discourse of Irenwus 

 against the Gentiles, entitled, 'Concerning Knowledge;' another, 

 inscribed to a brother named Marcianus, being a demonstration of the 

 apostolical preaching ; and a little book of divers disputatious." 

 Irenaeus also wrote a letter to Victor, bishop of Rome, concerning the 

 controversy about the time of holding Easter ; and also ' Five Books 

 against Heresies." The last work is still extant ; but all the rest have 

 perished, with the exception of a few fragments. The original 

 Greek of the ' Five Books against Heresies ' has also been lost ; we 

 possess only a Latin translation of it, written in an uncouth style, 

 which was made, according to Dodwell's computation (' Dissert. Iren.' 

 v. 9, 10), about 385. This circumstance renders the work of little 

 value in ascertaining the readings of the Greek Testament in the time 

 of Irenseus, since the Latin translator appears to have quoted the text 

 of Scripture according to the Latin version then in use. 



It is difficult to determine at what period the ' Five Books against 

 Here.-ies ' were written, but they all appear to have been composed 

 after Irenaeus became Bishop of Lyon, and to have been published 

 at different times. Irenxus was well acquainted with heathen litera- 

 ture and the doctrines of the heretics of his time. His work is very 

 valuable in an historical point of view, and has been highly com- 

 mended by most of the fathers; though Photius ('Bibl.' c. 120) gives 

 rather a different opinion of it, thinking " that the purity of the 

 faith with respect to ecclesiastical doctrines is adulterated by the 

 false and spurious reasonings of Irenaeus. 



Ireuseus was a diligent collector of apostolical traditions. Ha 

 informs us, in many parts of his work, that he was well acquainted 

 with several persons who bad been iutimate with the apostles. Many 

 of his traditions are of a very curious kind. He affirms that Christ 

 was at least fifty years old at the time of his crucifixion, and he 

 asserts the most extravagant opinions with regard to the Millennium. 

 Middleton, in his 'Free Inquiry' (p. 45-52), has given an interesting 

 account of many of the opinions of this father. 



The life of Irenseus has been written by Gervaise, Paris, 1723. 

 His works have been published by Erasmus, 1526 ; by Feuardent, 

 1596 ; by Grabe, 1702 ; by Massuet, 1710 ; and by Pfaff, 1734. Some 

 of tho fragments published for the first time by Pfaff are supposed 

 by Lardner ('Credibility of the Gospel History," Works, ii., p. 189-191, 

 ed. of 1831) to be spuiious. 



IliETON, HENRY, the eldest son of German Ireton, of Atteuton, 

 in Nottinghamshire, was born in 1610. He was entered at Trinity 

 College, Oxford, in 1626, and having taken tho degree of bachelor of 

 arts, became a student of the Middle Temple. His legal studies were 

 interrupted by the outbreak of the civil war; he entered the par- 

 liamentary army, and soon became very proficient in the military art. 

 It has even been asserted that Oliver Cromwell learned its rudiments 

 from him. In 1646 he married Bridget, Cromwell's eldest daughter, 

 by which connection and his own merit he gained a commission, first 

 of captain of horse, and almost immediately afterwards thut of 

 colonel. He distinguished himself in the battle of Naseby, was taken 

 prisoner by the royalists, but made his escape. Ireton was perhaps 

 more than any other man the cause of King Charles's death ; by 

 intercepting a letter, he is said to have discovered that it was the 

 king's intention to destroy him and Cromwell, and from that time he 

 rejected any accommodation : he attended most of the sittings of the 

 regicide court, and signed the warrant for Charles's execution. On 

 the establishment of the Commonwealth he was appointed to go to 

 Ireland, next in command to Cromwell. He was made president of 

 Munster, and afterwards lord-deputy of Ireland. The greater part of 

 the country submitted to him from fear of his cruelty, without 

 striking a blow. While in the height of his successes he was seized, 

 before Limerick, with the plague, of which he died on the 15th of 

 November 1651. His body was landed at Bristol, and lay in state at 

 Somerset House. On an atchievement over the gate of Somerset 

 House was the motto, " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," which 

 was readily translated, " It is good for his country that he is dead." 

 He was buried in Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey ; but the 

 corpse was exhumed after the Restoration, gibbeted, and burnt at Ty- 

 burn. Ho left one son, Henry, and four daughters. Ireton was revered 

 by the republicans as a soldier, a statesman, and a saint. He was 

 called the ' scribe,' from his skill in drawing up declarations, petitions, 

 and ordinances. His antagonists allowed him to be an able, but assert 

 that he was a designing statesman. He refused a grant of 20001. a 

 year, which was offered to him out of tho confiscated estate of the 

 Duke of Buckingham ; and after his death the parliament, out of 

 gratitude for his services, settled it upon his widow and children. 



IRVING, REV. EDWARD, was born August 15th 1792 at Annan, 

 in Dumfriesshire, where his father was a tauner. He was educated at 

 the University of Edinburgh, and took the degree of M.A. He is stated 

 to have joined a theatrical company, but to have left it after a very 

 brief trial. In 1811 he was appointed to superiutend the mathematical 

 school at Haddington, whence he removed in 18 12 to Kirkaldy, whore he 

 became the rector of an academy. He remained at Kirkaldy about seven 

 years, when, having completed the probation required by the Church 

 of Scotland, and received ordination from tho presbytery of Annan, he 



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